Former Vice President
Joe Biden
’s status as a front-runner—and the distance that many other Democratic presidential candidates must travel to close the gap with him—come across clearly in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, which gives an early indication of where enthusiasm rests among the party’s primary voters.

Some 70% of voters who intend to cast ballots in a Democratic primary say they are enthusiastic about Mr. Biden or are comfortable with him. That is a higher share than that received by any other candidate tested in Journal/NBC News surveys since March, among them Sens.
Bernie Sanders,
Kamala Harris
and
Elizabeth Warren.

Candidates with the most work to do to energize voters include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and
Julián Castro,
the former U.S. housing secretary. Only 3% of Democratic primary voters say they are enthusiastic about Ms. Gillibrand, while an additional 25% say they’d be comfortable with her. Similarly, 5% say they are enthusiastic about Mr. Castro, with 17% saying they’d be comfortable with him.

By contrast, 32% say they are enthusiastic about Mr. Biden, and an additional 38% say they’re comfortable with him.

The Journal and NBC News have asked Democratic voters for their early impressions of 10 of the party’s 21 announced candidates in polls released Sunday and in late March.

The results in part reflect each candidate’s name recognition—a factor likely to change once the Democratic debates begin and the candidates have a chance to speak to a national audience on equal footing with their rivals. At this point, about half of Democratic primary voters say they can’t form an opinion of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for example, or of Mr. Castro.

Some 27% in the Journal/NBC News surveys say they have reservations about or are very uncomfortable with Mr. Biden. That’s a smaller share than the 36% who say so of Mr. Sanders and 33% who feel that way about Ms. Warren, though the differences are within the polls’ margins of error.

Full Poll Results

Newsletter Sign-up

The Journal/NBC surveys also give a few early indications about the general election.

Among all registered voters surveyed, President Trump produces more ardent support than does Mr. Biden. Some 25% of voters in the new survey said they were enthusiastic about Mr. Trump as a candidate, compared with 17% who said so of Mr. Biden.

But in the broader picture of enthusiasm, comfort or unease, Mr. Biden is in a stronger position as of now than is President Trump.

Some 47% of all registered voters say they are enthusiastic or comfortable with Mr. Biden, with 49% saying they have reservations about him or are very uncomfortable with him—a gap of 2 percentage points.

The Journal/NBC News survey interviewed 900 adults, including 268 Democratic primary voters, from April 28 through May 1. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points among adults and 6.0 percentage points among Democratic voters. The March survey interviewed 1,000 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 points, from March 23-27; the margin of error among the 284 Democratic primary voters in that poll was plus or minus 5.82 points.

Related Video

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced his 2020 campaign in late April, in what will be his third run for president. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib takes a look at what he brings to the table and what are his liabilities. Photo: Getty

WSJ opens select articles to reader conversation to promote thoughtful dialogue. See the 'Join the Conversation' area to the rightbelow for stories open to conversation. For more information, please reference our community guidelines. Email feedback and questions to moderator@wsj.com.